Baby on My Doorstep
by x13angeleyes
Summary: Life was going so smoothly for Sakura, missions were great and they were close to finding the Akatsuki. But then, POP! She gets a little suprise on her doorstep one night. Now how is she supposed to contine missions while caring for a little baby boy?
1. Basket Boy

After a long, grueling day of training and missions with Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei, all Sakura Haruno wanted to do was take a hot shower and sleep until noon the next day. As usual, Naruto had invited her and Sasuke to go eat ramen at Ichiraku, but she had politely declined, complaining of desperate need of sleep, and had left Sasuke and Naruto arguing about who was buying.

After entering her house, Sakura lazily made her way up the stairs and into her bathroom to take the well-needed shower she deserved. As the steam circled around her and the hot water poured over her body, Sakura went over the events of the day.

_Team 7 sat silently as the Hokage, Tsunade-sama, went over the devastating report of the last S-Rank mission to be assigned. Two of the best ANBU Konoha had ever seen were assigned to track the movements of the Akatsuki as they headed for the Lightning Country. _

_After ten months without contact to the village, a message was received stating that they would be coming home in the next few days. Tsunade was petrified when she later received a package with the heads of the ANBU inside. _

"_This is the reason I have called you here. I am putting your squad on a C-Rank mission, Kakashi. I want them to scout the surrounding areas for any more clues of Akatsuki activity. This package wasn't delivered by mail; it has no stamp. They must still be in the area if they had had the pleasure of hand delivering my 2 best ANBU back to me. If you find anything, report back to me with your findings. I will give you further instructions afterwards."_

"_Hai, Hokage-sama," the silver-haired jounin replied, and he disappeared in a puff of grey smoke. After scouting the woods surrounding the village, Team 7 returned to the Hokage tower, bearing nothing but some kunai and shuriken from a few tree trunks. _

"_So you didn't find anything?" Tsunade asked when they returned._

"_No, only some kunai and shuriken. Was there something in particular we were looking for?" Sakura asked her master._

"_No, Sakura, except one thing. In the message I received, Mitzuki mentioned bringing home an extra person, but it wasn't a prisoner. I was hoping your team would find evidence of who the person was. But the Akatsuki must have taken them hostage after attacking Mitzuki and Ronin. For now, you're dismissed. But expect to be called in if and when we get new information." _

"_Hai," the four chorused and excited the room, as the distressed Hokage gave a loud sigh. _

The rosette-haired girl stepped out of her shower and wrapped her towel around herself. After towel-drying her hair and dressing in her green pajamas, Sakura waltzed into her kitchen in hopes of finding something to eat. She was mid-way into her miso-ramen cup when a rustle from outside startled her.

'This better not be one of Naruto's practical jokes,' Sakura thought. **If it is, the bastard's gonna be 6-feet under! **Just for protection, the Haruno whipped out a kunai and silently crept to the door. As she got closer, the girl could have sworn that she heard a baby crying. Yanking the door open, almost off its hinges, Sakura glanced around for any enemies. Once she had confirmed that it was safe, Sakura put the kunai away and relaxed a little. That is, until a very loud wail came from her feet.

She glanced down, finding a basket containing some wrapped up blankets and a letter. Sakura snatched the letter and jumped back, fearing the basket to be a trap, possibly rigged with explosive notes. When the basket didn't explode or emit any poisonous gases, Sakura thought it safe to open the letter. She slowly opened the letter, and taking out a small piece of paper, she gasped. On the paper were 11 words Sakura never thought to be there.

"Please take care of Kiyoshi. The Akatsuki might come after him," she read out loud. Realizing the meaning of the words on the page, Sakura rushed over to the basket. She moved apart the blankets, and staring up at her with the biggest dark blue eyes she had ever seen, was a baby, looking only a year old, if not a bit younger.

Sakura blinked, and Kiyoshi blinked back at her. The two stayed there for a moment, just blinking at each other. And it would have stayed like that, if it hadn't been for Kiyoshi's newfound fascination for the color pink, which just happened to be Sakura's hair color. A sinister smile spread across the infant's face, and in what seemed to be one motion, had latched himself onto Sakura, and had begun to play with her hair.

**Ouch! That hurts, you little brat! Sakura, get that kid off our hair!** 'Oh, how I wish I could.' As Kiyoshi continued to yank Sakura's precious pink hair, she picked up the basket and the blanket and carried them inside, along with the sandy-haired infant hanging from her head.

"Ouch! Now I have to call Tsunade-sama, so you stay right here, um, Kiyoshi. Here, play with this while I make this call," Sakura said after setting Kiyoshi down and handing him a little doll. She then picked up the phone and walked into the kitchen, but still kept an eye on the baby as she dialed the Hokage tower's number.

"Hello, thank you for calling the Hokage. How may I help you?" a woman answered.

"Shizune, it's Sakura. I need to speak with Tsunade-sama. I think I might have found the extra person Mitzuki was talking about in the letter," Sakura replied exhaustedly.

"Okay, Sakura, let me transfer your call," there was a click a moment later and the voice of a drunk Tsunade answered. "Hello?" she slurred. 'Great, she was sleeping again,' Sakura thought, slightly losing her train of thought.

"Tsunade-sama, I think I might have found the person Mitzuki was talking about in her letter. I'm going to bring him over to you right now."

"Alright, Sakura, and I'll call your teammates and inform them right away." And with that, the pink-haired shinobi hung up the phone and backed into the wall. With a sigh, she slid down onto the floor and hung her head.

"How am I going to explain this to Tsunade-sama? Maybe I can tell her, 'Oh, I found a baby inside a basket on my doorstep with this weird note inside. Whoever put the baby here must be running from the Akatsuki and couldn't take care of him because they hated kids!' No, that's not good," she sighed again. Sakura was pulled out of her thought when she felt a slight tug on her shirt. It was Kiyoshi, staring up at her again with his big blue eyes, obviously asking for something. But he looked sad, and when she glanced down at what was in his hands, she laughed slightly. The doll she had given him lay in his hands, in pieces.

"What is it? Do you think it's broken? Well, silly, it's not, see. You just press the button right here, and he's all back to normal. That's the magic of this toy; it can never break!" she said, giving him a pat on the head and demonstrating how the doll comes apart and back together.

Kiyoshi just sat and stared at the toy, amazed at how it worked. Then he put out his hand, as in a way of asking for it back, and tried it out on his own. When he hit the button, the toy fell apart, but when he released it, the little man came back together. And with a loud scream of joy, he hugged Sakura's leg and crawled off to play with his new friend.

'Hmm, maybe finding him wasn't so bad after all.' **Oh, yeah, if you don't count the constant screams of joy the kid has every 46 seconds.**


	2. New Mommy

The time was now 11 o' clock, as Sasuke Uchiha walked aimlessly around the deserted streets of Konoha. After the meeting with the Hokage, Sasuke couldn't help but think about what the Akatsuki had done, and where they might be. Half his mind kept telling him to leave the village again and go look for his weasel of a brother. But he knew that he couldn't leave, no matter how much he wanted to finally annihilate Itachi.

Not only did the thought of letting his brother slip away bother him, but not knowing who the other person Mitzuki and Ronin were with made him want to leave all the more. When he had finally come home, about a year and a half ago, Sasuke was put on probation, which meant he would be under current watch by ANBU.

He had learned much from them, including a few rumors about some of the members. He remembered hearing that Mitzuki and Ronin were to be assigned the S-Rank mission, but had also learned that there was a little relationship going on between them, and that Mitzuki's stomach was getting larger for a reason.

'Could that extra person have a baby? Or more importantly, Mitzuki's baby?!' the raven-haired boy wondered. 'If it was, then I can see why Mitzuki and Ronin died; it was stupid to go on any mission pregnant, let alone an S-Rank involving the Akatsuki.'

"Oi, Sasuke! Is that you down there?" his sensei, Kakashi, called from atop a small building.

"What do you want? And isn't it a little late to be out?"

"I should ask you the same thing, but I won't. Tsunade-sama needs us in her office. We have new information about Mitzuki and Ronin."

"Hn." Jumping up onto the roof to join his sensei, Sasuke silently wondered if the rumors he had heard were actually true.

Sakura had never really been all that great with little kids, particularly because she had never had any younger siblings. But here she was, sitting outside her sensei's office, cradling a baby boy in her arms as he peacefully slept and drooled all over her. He had just fallen asleep not too long ago, after having a fit about not being able to take his new toy with them.

**Ugh, if I have to listen to that baby cry again, I am going to be pulling my hair out from frustration! We really need to get rid of this, thing! **'I can't just abandon Kiyoshi like that, and besides, we don't know what Tsunade-sama will say about him. And I really hope that he doesn't wake up, I don't want to hear him cry again either.'

Aside from the kunoichi classes she had to take at the academy, Sakura didn't really know much about how to take care of a baby, besides basic stuff like diaper changing and feeding. She was only 17, for Kami's sake! But, she would have to learn sometime, if she ever wanted to have children of her own.

"Sakura, you can come in now," Shizune's voice called from inside the office. Carefully, Sakura lifted Kiyoshi and carried him into the room where Tsunade and Shizune sat. As they waited for the rest of Team 7 to arrive, Tsunade asked Sakura how she had come across the baby boy.

"Well, Tsunade-sama, I was eating in my kitchen when I heard someone outside my house. I went to go investigate, and when I opened the door, there he was, in a basket. Oh, and this note also came with it," Sakura handed her teacher the note and Tsunade silently read it. Closing her eyes, the Godaime Hokage sighed and tried to think of potential ideas for what to do with the baby.

Well, she tried as much as she could before the obnoxiously loud blonde ninja, also known as Naruto Uzumaki decided to kick down her door. The slam of the door against the floor had immediately woken up the sleeping infant, thus, causing him to cry.

"Sakura-chan! What are you doing with that screaming baby in your lap? Get it to shut up already!" the enraged fox-boy said, which earned him a prompt sucker punch from the Hokage.

"Shhhh, Kiyoshi-kun, it's ok. There's no need to cry, shhhh," the pink-haired teen said while gently rocking the baby back and forth. After a minute, his crying subsided and a smile could be seen on his features. **Finally! He stopped crying.**

"Sakura, since when have you been this good with kids?" Tsunade asked with a slight smirk on her face.

"Oh, I'm not sure. I guess it's just…maternal instinct?" Sakura giggled a little.

"Well, I think I've made my decision. Sakura, I want you to take care of Kiyoshi until we can find a foster home for him. I will also count this as a sort of training mission, for the future." Mouths agape, Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi blinked in confusion. 'WHAT IS GOING ON?!' they all simultaneously thought.

"So, Sakura-chan is going to be playing mommy for that little brat?!" Naruto questioned. And all he received was a nod from the Hokage, and a smile from his female teammate.

"You are all dismissed for now. Except you, Kakashi, I need to speak to you privately." Tsunade made a movement with her hand, signaling the others to be on their way. Once everyone else had left the room, she spoke again.

"This letter was found with Kiyoshi. I can't tell if it is from Mitzuki, but I'm going to try and do a handwriting analysis. Kiyoshi is Mitzuki's son, there's no doubt about it. She was 5 months pregnant at the time she and Ronin left. But I would have thought that Akatsuki might have taken him, or worse. Kakashi, keep an eye on Sakura's house tonight. I don't want any surprise attacks on my pupil."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," he replied, and with a bow, walked out of the office to watch over Sakura and Kiyoshi.

Back at the Haruno household, Sakura was giving Kiyoshi a quick bath before she had to put him back to sleep. But it didn't look like he would be sleeping. He splashed around as Sakura desperately tried to wash the dirt out of his hair, laughing occasionally when she would be hit by some soapy water. When he was finally clean, she drained the tub and wrapped him up in a big, beige towel. In it, you could barely see his tiny head peeping out from top.

The kunoichi dressed him in a fresh diaper and a pair of footie pajamas that she had picked up from her grandmother's on the way home. By the time she was done cleaning up the mess in the bathroom, Kiyoshi was fast asleep on her bed, snuggling with his toy.

'He is sort of cute, ya know.' **Yeah, but he still is loud and whiney.** Tip-toeing into the room, she shut off the lights and kissed his forehead softly, silently wishing him sweet dreams.


End file.
